About us

The discipline of Psychiatry in the Medical School and in and Post-Graduate courses  has been  operating in Italy since the 1960s (within the courses of Diseases  of the Nervous and Mental Systems) but a clear distinction between  Neurology and Psychiatry was achieved only in 1976 through reformation and modification of the so called “Table XVIII” (Law n.238 of 29 / 04 / 1976). On this date, Psychiatry was officially established in the Italian University system.

Academic Psychiatry has been active in Ferrara as part of the School of Medicine since 1971. Although it was initially set inside the Nervous and Mental Diseases Clinic, it later became a self-governing discipline. Also in 1971, the Residency Program in Psychiatry was established (D.P.R. 11/5/1971 n.470 - G.U. 28/7/1971 n.188). In 1998 a Diploma in Psychiatric and Psycho-social Rehabilitation Therapy was implemented.  In 2002, according to a new university reform, it became the Graduation School in Psychiatric Rehabilitation to replace the Diploma program.

The Section of Psychiatry is also registered and recognized on the “Continuous Medical Education (CME)” site at the Health Ministry (provider number 5231) as a structure qualified to organize informative events.

The Psychiatry Section  of the University of Ferrara is therefore a complex structure. Educational, research and clinical-care activities are fundamental expressions of the discipline of psychiatry and are thus the core of the Section.

From  2003 to 2011, the Section of Psychiatry has been the legal site of the Chair (President Prof. Luigi Grassi) of the Italian Society of Psycho-Oncology (SIPO), whose objective is to promote education and research in psychological, psychiatric and social assistance to cancer patients and to their families based on the programmes defined by psycho-oncology over the last twenty years. Further information may be obtained at the official site of SIPO and at the National Secretariat of the Society (see also the Section Links and the Psycho-Oncology Service at the same site). It has been the site of the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS) form 2006 to 2008 (President Prof. Luigi Grassi). Since 2005 it is also the site of the Chair of the Special Section on Psycho-Oncology and Palliative Care (Chair Prof. Luigi Grassi) of the World Psychiatric Association. Since 2011 it is  the chair of the Italan Association of Cognitive Analytic Therapy (ITA-CAT), federated to the International Cognitive Analytic Therapy Association (ICATA).